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Eastern Promises
Nikolai (Viggo Mortensen), who is both ruthless and mysterious, has ties to one of the most dangerous crime families in London. But when he crosses paths with Anna Khitrova, a midwife, the truth about his past is gradually revealed.
22 September 1985, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
17 December 1930, Tilsit, East Prussia, Germany [now Sovetsk, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia]
April 19, 1978 in Walvisbay, Namibia
8 March 1939, Phulpur, Azangarh, India
16 August 1991, Montréal, Québec, Canada
13 February 1943, Brixworth, Northamptonshire, England, UK
5 May 1938, Lódz, Lódzkie, Poland
20 October 1958, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
October 23, 2009
Even if the frequently low-key plot suffers from the occasional sleepy stretch, Mortensen turns in a magnificent performance.
September 21, 2007
Eastern Promises is a straightforward, straight-up Russian gangster movie whose primary achievement is making the Russian gangster underworld feel exotic and menacing.
September 22, 2007
Here is an excellent crime thriller made with grown-ups in mind.
June 10, 2010
Clearly a companion piece to (and just as good as, if not better than) 2005's fantastic A History of Violence, Eastern Promises is all about blood, in the familial as well as the literal sense.
September 02, 2010
"It starts very well, and we're immediately drawn into this world of dead pregnant teens, the Russian mob, the hermeneutics of tattoos and the archetypal disappointment of a father with his son."
September 25, 2010
David Cronenberg's spin on "The Departed," in which lawmen and the lawless were similarly tested within an ethnic mafia's ranks. But where that became an overwrought bloodbath, "Promises" maintained a vicious focus on mob malevolence and personal peril.
October 24, 2007
Slightly hesitant, slightly undercharacterised and gently compromising, hybrid: an oddly diplomatic, if often brutal, dip into the hellish demi-mondes lurking behind bouncer-guarded London doorways.
July 06, 2010
A captivating and intimidating presence, Mortenson is simply striking in his consecutive Cronenberg film, playing the slick Russian mob figure who suffers from a crisis of conscience with equal parts calm and intensity.
October 01, 2007
It's just too bad Eastern Promises, on the whole, promises more than it delivers.
September 21, 2007
...manages to blend the clashing of cultures, family resentment, ugly heritage and the unlikely promise of new life without going in circles.
February 22, 2008
Despite Viggo's total gorgeousness, a nude fight-for-his-life in a steam room has all the titillation of a butcher throwing down a slab of meat.
July 14, 2011
Quite possibly the best film of the year, it is to be seen at all costs.